Sunday, September 14, 2008

photos - floods

Gonaives is one of the largest cities in Haiti. It has a population of around 300,000 people. The entire city was flooded as this city sits in a valley area surrounded by mountains.

Many houses are destroyed along with the people living in them. It will take time for the waters to recede completely. This is the second major flood in this city. The last flood in 2004 killed around 3000 people.

This photo shows the flooding in the low-lying areas.

The Miragoane area is flooded. The Miragoane region is in the southern part of the country. This is Highway 2 which is no longer open to vehicular traffic. This southern highway leads to Port-au-Prince. You need to take a canoe to go down this highway. The charge is 50 gourdes or about $1.25 per person. The canoe travels to where the flooded area ends and then people board regular public transportation.

Cabaret suffered a lot of damage from the flooding of Hurricane Ike. Most of the people who died were children. These photos were all taken from the internet.